‘No more stopping barangay, SK polls’

MANILA, Philippines — There is no way for Congress to approve a third deferment of the twice-postponed barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections, which are set to be held on May 14, congressmen opposed to postponement said yesterday.        

Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate said that while the House of Representatives has approved the postponement bill, the Senate could not tackle it because Congress is now on its eight-week Lenten vacation.

Because of the break, Commission on Elections (Comelec) spokesman James Jimenez said proposals to postpone have virtually flown out the window.

“That whooshing sound you hear is the collective sigh of relief exhaled by 57,284,798 barangay and SK voters learning that Congress went into recess this week without the Senate having done anything to support the House of Representative’s initiative to postpone the 2018 barangay and SK elections,” he noted in a statement.

He added that “barring the occurrence of some supervening event of earthshaking magnitude over the next seven weeks, it would appear that that’s as good a guarantee as any.”

Zarate said administration allies wasted precious time, effort and taxpayers’ money in passing the measure, knowing fully well that senators no longer had time to consider it.

“By the time we reconvene on May 14, voters are exercising their right, which was twice denied them, to elect their new set of barangay and youth leaders,” Zarate added.

Reps. Antonio Tinio and France Castro of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers said the postponement of barangay and SK elections was part of the Duterte administration’s Charter change (Cha-cha) agenda.

“They planned to hold the vote simultaneously with the plebiscite for the approval of a federal constitution in October this year. This is another indication that the administration is so eager to fast-track Cha-cha,” they said.

Administration supporters in the House, they added, used the so-called narco-list with the names of hundreds of barangay officials on it as a pretext for postponement in an attempt to follow their Cha-cha timeline.        

Tinio and Castro pointed out that the ultimate goal of Charter change is the extension of the term of office of congressmen, senators and other incumbent officials, including President Duterte.        

Anakpawis Rep. Ariel Casilao said the proposed barangay and SK election postponement “is a serial desecration of the people’s right to suffrage,” adding that it is time for voters to elect a new set of village officers since incumbents have been in their posts since 2013.

Before lawmakers adjourned for their eight-week Lenten vacation, Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III said there was no more time for his chamber to consider a House-approved postponement bill.

Besides, he said most senators were not in favor of resetting the barangay and SK polls again.

Sen. Francis Escudero said he was against postponement and the proposal to allow the President to appoint replacements for incumbent village officers.

“Let the people decide and let us not take away this right from them,” he stressed. – Sheila Crisostomo